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Nottingham Forest Stuns Liverpool with Decisive Victory at Anfield
Liverpool’s Struggles: What’s Behind the Decline?
A 3-0 defeat at home against Nottingham Forest marks the defending champions’ sixth loss in their last seven league matches, raising serious questions about their form.
This result equals Liverpool’s worst-ever home defeat in the Premier League era, leaving them languishing in 11th place in the table.
Where did things go wrong for Arne Slot’s squad, and how did Sean Dyche’s tactical approach exploit Liverpool’s vulnerabilities?
Forest capitalized on Liverpool’s struggles with defending set-pieces to open the scoring.
Excluding penalties, Slot’s team has conceded nine league goals from set-pieces this season, matching their entire total from the previous campaign.
For the opening goal, Liverpool positioned six players, including goalkeeper Alisson, in the six-yard box, while the visitors strategically placed only two.
One of these players lightly pressured Alisson, while the other challenged Virgil van Dijk, hindering his movement.
In the center of the box, Forest and Liverpool engaged in a 4v4 battle, with Liverpool’s quartet comprising Cody Gakpo, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Mohamed Salah.
Early in the routine, Salah signaled to Mac Allister, instructing him to mark one of Forest’s most dangerous players, Murillo.
However, Mac Allister was unable to carry out this task, as he was preoccupied with his designated marker, leaving Murillo unmarked.
Szoboszlai, responsible for tracking Morgan Gibbs-White, chose not to follow him to the near post, instead attempting to cover the free Murillo at the last moment.
Mac Allister focused on his marker (yellow). Murillo started next to Salah before moving to the back post. Szoboszlai decided to pick him up, allowing Gibbs-White to attack the near post
As the cross came in, Gibbs-White narrowly missed heading the ball at the near post while unmarked.
This was a result of van Dijk being occupied by another Forest player and Szoboszlai marking Salah’s man instead of Gibbs-White.
The inswinging cross and concerted movement toward the goal forced the Liverpool players closer to their own goal. Murillo’s clever movement back into space allowed him to score with minimal pressure.
Gibbs-White (circled at near post) is now free. Murillo (circled at back post) peeled off Szoboszlai while Salah (white circle) hasn’t picked anybody up
Ultimately, the poor communication among the four Liverpool players in the center of the box, including Salah’s failure to mark a man, enabled Forest to score.
Questions arise regarding why Salah was assigned this defensive role, given his offensive prowess and potential threat on the counter-attack.
‘Liverpool in full-blown crisis and Slot under severe pressure’
Superb Forest embarrass champions Liverpool at Anfield
Salah’s defensive contribution was again exploited for Forest’s second goal.
The visitors had three players on the left flank, matched numerically by Liverpool with Salah, Curtis Jones, and Szoboszlai.
Liverpool’s players defended this move by focusing on individuals rather than zones, and Forest’s rotations pulled their opponents out of position.
Jones (number 17) could have perhaps been positioned more conservatively – defending the zone at the edge of the box (pointed to by the arrow) rather than tracking his man
Gibbs-White’s movement from central midfield to the left wing cleverly drew Ryan Gravenberch out.
Neco Williams, Salah’s assigned man, made an untracked run from the touchline into the middle.
This forced Mac Allister to abandon his central midfield position to cover Williams.
Mac Allister (10) came across to defend Williams (3) who had run off of Salah
As Forest approached Liverpool’s goal, they committed numerous players into the box, causing Liverpool to drop deeper.
This created space in front of the back line for Nicolo Savona to arrive and score.
While the first and second goals appear distinct, two key themes emerge.
First, Salah lost track of his man for both goals as Liverpool aimed to defend in a man-to-man fashion.
Second, space opened up for the scorer in front of a Liverpool defensive line that had dropped deep without adequate cover.
Last season, Salah’s offensive output mitigated any defensive shortcomings, but with Liverpool’s attack now struggling, this imbalance is cause for concern.
For Forest’s third goal, a quick switch found Omari Hutchinson in space on the wing.
Hutchinson received the ball facing the goal with time and space to advance with momentum.
This scenario mirrors the build-up to Manchester United’s first goal against Liverpool earlier this season.
On that occasion, Amad Diallo received the ball with separation. The distance between Amad and his full-back allowed him to dribble at the defender unopposed before assisting Bryan Mbeumo.
These situations are incredibly difficult to defend, as they allow the winger to control the action.
Ideally, a full-back would control the situation by preventing the ball from reaching the winger or forcing them to play from a standing position or at an unfavorable angle.
Man Utd’s Amad was able to find joy against Liverpool by getting on the ball with space to run at his full-back earlier this season
Hutchinson’s individual quality shone as he beat Andy Robertson on the inside and unleashed a shot that Alisson saved.
However, Mac Allister’s positioning is noteworthy. Sensing danger, the Argentine midfielder moved across to block the shot, again vacating the central position in front of the defensive line.
This created the space for Gibbs-White to arrive and score unopposed.
This space opened up in the same manner for all three goals and is an issue that Liverpool must address, among others.
Defenders could step out more proactively to block shots, chances could be stopped at the source, or a more positionally aware defensive midfielder could focus on protecting this zone.
Hutchinson prepares to shoot after being found in space and then driving into the Liverpool area
By the time the third goal was conceded, Slot’s substitutions had skewed the team heavily towards attack, leaving Mac Allister short of defensive midfield support.
Therefore, the blame cannot solely rest on his shoulders.
However, the goals conceded against Forest highlight a lack of balance, intensity, and chemistry – qualities that have been the foundation of Liverpool’s success for so long.
This analysis does not diminish Forest’s performance.
Their physicality, ability to win second balls, and commitment to making runs off the ball into dangerous areas were crucial to securing an impressive victory.
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